De Paul`s `Best Performance` Burns Houston

HOUSTON — This was De Paul`s test by fire, and the Blue Demons came through without even getting an eyebrow singed.

There may be some eyebrows raised, however, at the relative ease with which the young Blue Demons defeated Houston on the Cougars` own floor Thursday night.

After leading by as many as 13 points in the second half, De Paul eased to an 84-78 victory that stamped it as a legitimate Top 20 team.

Only once did the Blue Demons appear ready to crack, and that was when Houston guard Alvin Franklin gunned in a 19-foot jumper to cut the lead to 71-68 with 6 minutes 27 seconds remaining.

In an amazing performance, Franklin scored 25 points after breaking a finger on his shooting hand early in the game.

``That`s an amazing job he did,`` marveled De Paul coach Joey Meyer. ``I thought he brought them back single-handedly. He was shooting from outside the range of our zone.``

Franklin said he broke the finger trying to stop a dunk by Lemone Lampley early in the game.

``I went up to try to block his shot and I slapped my hand on the backboard,`` he said. ``It was right at the beginning of the game when he went up to dunk.

``I had no feeling in the finger at first. Then it was paining me the whole game. But I adjusted.``

Franklin had 17 points after the intermission, 14 coming after De Paul had grabbed a 59-46 lead on Lampley`s jumper in the lane.

Lampley led De Paul in scoring and rebounding for the second straight game. The 6-foot-11-inch senior co-captain had 19 points and 7 boards. But this time, he had a lot of help in what Meyer called ``our best performance of the year so far. It`s a step up from the way we`ve been playing. This is a tough team to beat down here. I`m proud of our kids.``

Houston coach Guy Lewis called De Paul`s ability to crack the Cougars`

press the most significant factor in the game, and Meyer said it was Strickland ``who came in and hurt their pressure game.``

``I thought early we could press them,`` said Lewis. ``I thought we would have to because last year we tried a half-court game and they killed us with their big people inside.

``But they handled our press awfully easily and to me that was the difference in the game.``

Although Greene had only eight points, six of them came in the final six minutes. ``He`s just a freshman, but he hit two key jumpers at the end,`` said Meyer.

Both were from about 18 feet on the left baseline, and the first came with De Paul leading only 75-71. The second made it a nine-point spread and all but iced the contest.

Greene had been off with his shot in the first half and admitted he was reluctant to shoot from outside. ``I wasn`t up to it, really,`` he said. ``So I was trying to go inside. Coach said, `You`ve got to take the shot,` so down the stretch I set up and hit it when it counted.``

Houston kept the pressure on almost to the end. ``It wasn`t like we were making mental mistakes,`` said Meyer. ``They were making great plays, but we just hung on and got the victory.``

This was De Paul`s first game against a top team on the road, although the Cougars are not quite up to the standards they set when they made the NCAA finals two years in a row a couple of seasons ago.

They have a capable starting five but no bench and little power inside. De Paul outscored Houston 15-1 off the bench.

``They`re not only good up front but also in the backcourt,`` said Houston center Greg Anderson. ``We played hard, but we just did not have as good a day as we needed to beat a team like De Paul.``

That might have been because De Paul was a team on a mission. ``Until now,`` observed Lampley, ``a lot of people didn`t respect us because we had not been tested. But Houston has a national reputation and to beat them here is a definite boost to our confidence.``

``We wanted to prove we`re not a fluke team,`` said Greene. ``We wanted to show we have heart and that we could play a top team on their own court and beat them.``

``I still don`t know how good we are,`` said Meyer. But this was not the time to worry about that. ``All I care about is getting better every game. Last year we stopped improving.``